Focus on Fluency

 

Hi Everyone, 

I just wanted to thank those of you that were able to schedule a short conference with me.  It was great to discuss your child's progress and what I've noticed and how you are helping at home.

Learning Intention: I can read accurately and with expression and understand what I read.

This past week, we've been focusing on fluency of reading. This includes things like rate, expression, and appropriate phrasing.  As students develop their knowledge of sounds and letters in decoding, and they increase their vocabulary and high frequency words, they can then begin to "smooth out the words in the sentence" rather than tracking word-by-word.  We notice punctuation and change our voice accordingly.

Helpful Tip:  If you are reading with your child, model the phrasing first, followed by an "echo" read by your child. Have fun pretending the phrase is a question, or exclamation...or perhaps play with emotions..."Let's read it as if the character was scared, or happy, or sad..."

Ask your child how Skippy Frog can also help with decoding and fluency...(he jumps over the word if the first try doesn't work (so it doesn't stop the rate of reading) then reading the rest of the sentence and looking at pictures for clues, he hops back and tries another word that looks right and sounds right.

Helpful Tip: When reading at home, have your child demonstrate how Skippy Frog can work with Eagle Eye when reading together.